Did Someone Say 1/72 Metal Figures??!!

Happy Weekend everyone! One of you regular Grand Duchy of Stollen visitors, though I cannot remember who just now, asked about figures by the German firm Art Miniaturen earlier this week. I must admit, I've known of these figures for about a year or two, but don't own any currently. See the link below to visit Art Miniaturen's online store:

http://www.fuhrmann-figuren.de/willkommen_bei_kf_1zu72.htm

The company produces a nice line of SYW figures, but with the very poor exchange rate between the American Dollar and the Euro, I've put off ordering any in quantity to see how they might work with my plastic Revell figures and the lovely metal RSM95 figures. They do seem a bit pricey, but I imagine that this is because they are viewed more as "collector" figures by their manufacturer than wargaming figures.

In addition, I suspect that the A.M. figures might actually be a bit on the small side, "true 1/72", to work with those I have amassed already. However, they do look attractive and might be just what someone else is looking for. Incidentally, A.M.'s 1/72 Napoleonic line is fairly extensive and might actually work along side some of the larger 15/18mm figures on the market today.

The Grand Duchess and I are signed up for a 65 mile bike ride down in Arthur, Illinois tomorrow -- The annual Amish Ride. So, it's early to bed this evening and early to rise in the morning, so we can make the 90-minute drive for an 8AM start time. The weather forecast looks great – mostly sunny and temperatures in the mid-60s (Fahrenheit). Ahhhhh. Finally a break from the nasty, hot weather of August and early-September. Slightly aching calves tomorrow evening, but I'm determined to get in a couple of hours painting. Keep your fingers crossed!

Comfortable Rules for Games of Glossy Toy Soldiers in the Old Style. . .

Introduction A Tangled Mass is a game of toy soldiers in the old style, set more or less in the middle part of the 18 th century. Our miniature forces are colorful and, we hope, glossy. Although the latter, like so much else, is up to the discretion of the players. But it is the modeling, brushwork, and unit organization of hobby greats like Gilder, Mason, and Robinson that provide our visual touchstone and continue to inform "the look of the thing" even now. Tabletop armies in A Tangled Mass can be historic, semi-historic, or whimsically fictitious, but the more flags and mounted officers, the better. Formations, while bearing some resemblance to their historic precedents, are generic: column, line, or extended order for lighter types. Squares, while possible, are less common than during all of that later Napoleonic madness with its guillotines and Spanish ulcers. And we'll simply choose not to mention patent leather dancing pumps, or that unseemly bedr

Prussian 3rd Garrison Regt. Update. . .

Still a few small things to do, including apply fleshtone to a left hand on an officer that I somehow missed at some point plus lace on the drummers and officers , but we're very close to the glossing stage. L ots of painstaking work to clean up edges, highlight folds, and touch up various bits and pieces the last few evenings. My trusty little Sony Cybershot, I fear, has gone to that big electronics place in the sky and no longer seems to be working. Well, I've had it since 2013, and small electronics don't last forever, so I cannot complain. With that little hiccup in mind, I snapped today's shot with my iPhone, brightened, and cropped it in Fotor before sharing it here. Again, the blue is not quite so bright in reality, but the auto-improve, or whatever they call it, makes for nice bright photographs in which everything shows up. Not long before these are done, and The Young Master was suitably please when I asked him to have a look a few minutes ago. -- Sto

A Break in the Radio Silence. . .

S till plugging away at the 60 or so Wied Infantry currently on the painting bench as and when work and family life permit. Using three different whites for the clothing, shoulder belts, and officers' wigs plus trying some Army Painter quick washes. My friend and one-time online magazine co-editor Greg Horne (the man behind The Duchy of Alzheim , still one of my blog and hobby touchstones) suggested I give washes a try a month or two ago, and I think he might be onto something. Admittedly, he suggested the Citadel contrast range, but what I purchased eventually is in that general direction. I am especially pleased with the Army Painter flesh wash, which picks out the facial details on the Minden figures very nicely. I've applied it on top of my usual Windsor & Newton alkyd oil fleshtone and then highlighted the brows, bridges of noses, cheeks, chins, lower lips, and knuckles/thumbs the next day with more of the fleshtone. Suddenly, and with relative ease, my paint

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